Cooperation and Collective Action: Archaeological Perspectives

332 Pages·2013·2.61 MB·English

by  David M. Carballo

Cooperation and ColleCtive aCtion

C
ooperation
C A
ollective ction
archaeological perspectives
edited by david M. Carballo
University Press of Colorado
Boulder
© 2013 by University Press of Colorado
Published by University Press of Colorado
5589 arapahoe avenue, suite 206C
Boulder, Colorado 80303
all rights reserved
Printed in the United states of america
the University Press of Colorado is a proud member of
the association of american University Presses.
the University Press of Colorado is a cooperative publishing enterprise supported, in part,
by adams state University, Colorado state University, fort lewis College, Metropolitan state
University of denver, regis University, University of Colorado, University of northern
Colorado, Utah state University, and Western state Colorado University.
this paper meets the requirements of the ansi/niso Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).
library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data
Cooperation and collective action : archaeological perspectives / edited by david M. Carballo.
pages cm
includes bibliographical references and index.
isBn 978-1-60732-197-2 (hardback) — isBn 978-1-60732-208-5 (ebook) (print)
1. Commerce, Prehistoric. 2. Commerce, Prehistoric—Cross-cultural studies. 3. economic
anthropology. 4. economic anthropology—Cross-cultural studies. i. Carballo, david M.,
editor of compilation.
Gn799.C45C67 2012
306.3—dc23
2012038942
design by daniel Pratt
22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
List of Figures | vii
List of Tables | ix
part i: theoretical perspectives
1. Cultural and evolutionary dynamics of Cooperation in archaeological
Perspective | 3
—David M. Carballo
2. the emergence of social Complexity: Why More than Population size
Matters | 35
—Gary M. Feinman
3. War, Collective action, and the “evolution” of Human Polities | 57
—Paul Roscoe
4. the ritualized economy and Cooperative labor in intermediate
societies | 83
—Charles Stanish
5. reconsidering darwinian anthropology: With suggestions for a revised
agenda for Cooperation research | 93
—Richard E. Blanton and Lane F. Fargher
v
6. agency and Collective action: insights from north american Historical
archaeology | 129
—Dean J. Saitta
part ii: Case Studies
7. free-riding, Cooperation, and Population Growth: the evolution of
Privatization and leaders in owens valley, California | 151
—Jelmer W. Eerkens
8. Cooperation and Competition among late Woodland Households at
Kolomoki, Georgia | 175
—Thomas J. Pluckhahn
9. the Competitive Context of Cooperation in Pre-Hispanic Barinas,
venezuela: a Multilevel-selection approach | 197
—Charles S. Spencer
10. Water Control and the emergence of Polities in the southern Maya
lowlands: evolutionary, economic, and ecological Models | 223
—Benjamin Chabot-Hanowell and Lisa J. Lucero
11. labor Collectives and Group Cooperation in Pre-Hispanic Central
Mexico | 243
—David M. Carballo
12. Caste as a Cooperative economic entitlement strategy in Complex
societies of the indian subcontinent and sub-saharan africa | 275
—Monica L. Smith
13. the dynamics of Cooperation in Context: Concluding thoughts | 299
—Gary M. Feinman
List of Contributors | 309
Index | 311
vi Contents
Figures
1.1 schematic representations of cooperation and other dimensions of group
behavior | 8
2.1 relationship between number of potential interactions and community
size | 39
2.2 Relationship between number of types of political officials and the
population of the largest organizational unit | 41
2.3 Curvilinear relationship between scale and complexity | 43
2.4 scatterplot of use group population and high-level and low-level integrative
facilities | 44
2.5 scatterplot of use group population and size of small integrative
structures | 44
2.6 Time from the establishment of the first sedentary agricultural
communities to the presence of large villages | 45
2.7 Two patterns of village growth from the establishment of the first
sedentary agricultural communities to the presence of large villages | 46
2.8 relationship between population size and increasing complexity for
collective and autocratic organization | 49
vii
5.1 Comparative cases discussed in text | 103
6.1 archaeological sites or nearby towns mentioned in text | 132
7.1 Map of study area, centering on the owens valley and showing regional
obsidian sources and surrounding geographic features | 156
7.2 Density of seeds per liter of soil from house floor assemblages in the
owens valley | 159
7.3 obsidian geochemical diversity in households over time in the southern
owens valley | 161
7.4 Distribution of microflakes of obsidian and carbon isotope ratios across
two house floors | 163
8.1 the Kolomoki site and the locations of Blocks a and d | 178
8.2 Close-up of the pit structure in Block a | 181
8.3 Close-up of the structure in Block d | 185
9.1 regional settlement patterns during the late Gaván phase (ad 550–
1000) | 203
9.2 Map of el Gaván | 204
9.3 Western venezuelan llanos and adjacent andes | 207
9.4 rafael Gassón’s map of el Cedral | 208
9.5 area B excavation on the circumscribing oval earthwork at B12 | 213
9.6 Drawing of the southwest profile of Mound A at B12 | 214
10.1 Map of Maya area with sites mentioned in text | 224
10.2 flow chart of smith and Choi patron-client simulation dynamics | 228
11.1 Central Mexico with sites and regions discussed in text | 245
11.2 Simplified map of central Teotihuacan | 254
11.3 Ceremonial centers of three late formative sites | 256
viii Figures
tables
2.1 three core dimensions of human social groups | 36
2.2 organizational thresholds of human groups | 40
2.3 effects of population range on population-complexity correlations | 40
2.4 relationship between maximal community size and scale of organizational
complexity | 41
2.5 relationship between total population size and organizational
complexity | 42
2.6 range of settlement population sizes in egalitarian societies | 42
2.7 relationship between number of administrative levels and maximal
community size | 45
3.1 Population distribution, community size, and the emergence of
Big Men | 68
5.1 the coded societies, indicating values for Collective action total | 106
8.1 Relative frequencies of surface treatments in assemblages of identifiable
Woodland pottery from Blocks a and d | 183
8.2 Relative frequencies of vessel forms identified in MNV analysis of
Blocks a and d | 183
ix